Broken
by Blase Contradiction
Summary: In the time span of two years, those three words were never uttered. When a nightmare brings things into perspective, Natsume Hyuuga learns the hard way to always treasure the things you have now. You never know when someone will take it away from you.


**0..o..0..o..0**

**Broken**

**0..o..0..o..0**

_A threat that enacts fear,_

_The fear that conducts absolute hysteria._

_A confession that broke the single soul,_

_Bringing about the answer for simple amends._

**T….t…T…t…T…t…T**

_Running. _

_He couldn't be too late. He just couldn't. If he was…he'd never forgive himself._

_And the result?_

_He was too late although he was there. _

_He found her simply staring up at the moon, the ocean roaring beneath her. Three years of searching had led me to find her. After the Academy, I lost her. I don't know how. I just did. She was there…then she wasn't. Leaving the Academy's grasp was…bittersweet. Thus, he began his agonizing, three year long search for her. He searched Japan-Obaida, Kyoto, Tokyo, Hokkaido and the rest-never finding her. _

_Then the world. Everywhere she had ever dreamed of going to he visited. She was never found. He gave up after three years. Until that fateful day, as he returned to the home of his dead grandparents he was told he had inherited. _

_A lone figure standing on the cliff was slim and her auburn hair, colored by the sun's disappearing rays, flayed out like the wisps of a fire. She turned and he saw the brilliant orbs of teak and olive mixed. Sheer surprise filled them. _

_The cloth bag I had taken with me everywhere dropped to the ground as I ran to her. I wrapped my arms around her lithe body, almost meatless, as though she didn't eat for a decade. "Mikan," I whispered into her hair. She was here. Now. And I didn't want to lose her. _

_Her silent gasp of pain was the only thing that brought me from my reverie. Protruding from her back, was an arrow. She slipped from my grasp that was never holding her to begin with, limp on the ground. The arrow's shaft had carvings engraved into its grain. I couldn't touch her. So I pulled it out, cruelly ignoring the scream of pain that erupted from her. _

_**I win, Natsume-chan.**_

_Blast that man! He finally ended the last shred of happiness he had in the world. _

_Remembering her pain, I lifted her into my arms. She looked into my eyes, hers dulling, the light being overcome by invisible shadows. No. I couldn't lose her now. Not after all these years searching, just to find her for a spare moment and have her ripped away again. NO! _

_Her eyes searched my face for something I didn't know. "Do I know you?" she asked. _

_And my world went dark. _

**0..o..0..o..0**

My eyes flew open. I felt hot droplets of salty water on my face. I remembered the dream vividly. I groped around in the dark, searching for her. Where was she?!

--,--,--,--, 

The door of his bedroom closed as a feline figure strode towards him. He gasped. The face…she was alive. He threw back the blankets and caged her in a soul-stirring embrace that she dropped the delicate china cup of tea she was holding. She felt his heaving chest against her head and she understood. She hushed him and held his vulnerable self to her.

For all the years of togetherness, Natsume Hyuuga had never once shown a drop of much emotion, except for…some occasions when he felt he couldn't hold in his control. And now, he was sobbing into her hair. She knew she loved him. She loved him to bits in fact. But except for that one time after graduation, he never uttered those three words ever again. He showed his usual cold demeanor and his sharp words piercing her, making her wonder if she made a mistake in choosing him. She could have had Ruka, but she took Natsume. She doubted her choice, occasionally saying it was a mistake. But here, now, she knew she loved him. And he loved her.

He needed her. And she needed him.

She smiled contentedly as he sank to the ground. She hugged hum, winding her arms around his, holding his shoulders up, supporting him. "Shhh," she whispered to him soothingly. Her hair draped both their shoulders in messy curls. "It's all right, I'm here now. Everything is going to be fine."

"No," he choked. "I can't lose you. I can't. If I lost you, nothing would matter. Please, don't leave me." I closed my eyes. A nightmare. To lose each other was truly a nightmare made in hell. He was here. He was broken, fragile by what a single nightmare did. If a single nightmare did this, how could she protect him from the likes of that bastard spawn-of-Satan Persona?

"I'm not going anywhere," she assured him. "I won't leave you and you'll never lose me." She tried lifting him. He helped a little by stumbling to his feet. She took his hands like she would a lost child and guided him to the balcony of they apartment. Moonlight spilled unto her and Natsume gaped. He was blind for the past years. He thought after getting his girl, there was nothing left to do. So he stumbled through his work, forgetting much about her. He regretted the pain he led her to find.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry." She smiled and embraced him again, fighting to wash away all his worries, all his regrets. "I'm sorry," was all he could repeat. She was contented with that. She kissed his forehead and let herself be washed with calm. She would never forget this moment.

At this point, Natsume was near to insanity. That nightmare was scaring him to death. No. He was thrust into the darkness of the underworld. He had learned too young that the world was nothing like what parents taught their children. Nothing was ever in black and white. Only grey. He had stayed in that bloody hellhole, that epitome of darkness for too long, until was transformed into something inhuman. Something demonic and horrific. Something even he hated; he hated himself.

Then, as things looked as though night would swallow everything, a bright sun entered his life. Her cheery voice and attitude (no matter how shrill and annoying) lifted those around him that were constantly in despair from the depths of shadows to the heights of joy. The Academy seemed brighter, all shadows slowly disappearing.

She taught everyone something. She taught Anna to be more…careful about what to put into her food. She taught Nonoko the ways to be more outgoing. She taught Kokoroyomi to keep the secrets he knew like little pearls. She taught Sumire to be humble. She taught Yuu to act less like a pushover and more like a leader. She taught Hotaru to be less emotionless. She taught Ruka that his life did not revolve around Natsume. She taught Natsume many things, but two standing out the most.

How to smile….

…and…

…how to love.

These things he cherished. He fell in love with her. Under her tutelage, he regained the humane personality he thought lost to oblivion. He knew she loved him. She told him everyday. But he didn't care much. He would grunt and she would look away. Then smile and went on with whatever she was doing.

Now, after that dream, he was sure he was wrong. He would never be able to live without Mikan Sakura. Never. "It's all right," she whispered soothingly. "I'll always be with you."

"I love you."

She stiffened. She pulled back a little and stared at him. "What did you say?" she asked.

"I love you, Mikan Sakura."

She smiled beatifically. Although they'd never been out of love, it was like they fell back into the spell all over again. "I love you too." She kissed his forehead and let hers rest on his. "Always. I'll never leave you broken."

"I love you, Mikan Sakura," he repeated.

"I know," she answered, never tired of the three words. "I love you back, Natsume Hyuuga."


End file.
